Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA.
University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA, USA.
Science. 2018 Jun 29;360(6396):1465-1467. doi: 10.1126/science.aap8731.
Why do some social problems seem so intractable? In a series of experiments, we show that people often respond to decreases in the prevalence of a stimulus by expanding their concept of it. When blue dots became rare, participants began to see purple dots as blue; when threatening faces became rare, participants began to see neutral faces as threatening; and when unethical requests became rare, participants began to see innocuous requests as unethical. This "prevalence-induced concept change" occurred even when participants were forewarned about it and even when they were instructed and paid to resist it. Social problems may seem intractable in part because reductions in their prevalence lead people to see more of them.
为什么有些社会问题似乎如此棘手？在一系列实验中，我们表明，人们通常会通过扩大对刺激物的概念来应对刺激物出现频率的降低。当蓝色圆点变得稀少时，参与者开始将紫色圆点视为蓝色；当威胁面孔变得稀少时，参与者开始将中性面孔视为威胁面孔；当不道德的请求变得稀少时，参与者开始将无害的请求视为不道德的请求。这种“流行诱导的概念变化”甚至在参与者被预先警告、被指示和被付钱去抵制它时也会发生。社会问题可能看起来棘手，部分原因是它们的出现频率降低导致人们看到的更多。
